The 13: Mission's End Book One

by M. M. Perry

  “Just let me check something for you. Things may not be as bad as they seem. I’ll get back to you if I’m right. I don’t want to give you false hope or have you running around looking for something that isn’t there. I can tell you something concrete, however. I’ve found out some things for you. Your spy friend?”

  “Jamil?”

  “Yes. He’s managed to find a way to tap into the Tereshkova’s shipboard communications. It’s how he knew the shuttle bay override code. I don’t know what else he may know, but I’m working on that. I have found out that their military knew the populace of the Tereshkova was becoming increasingly discordant.

  “We shared the specifics of our counseling program with the Tereshkova some years ago. After that, everything went to hell over there as far as relations between Command, Military and the civilians go. It caused them to become much stricter with how the civilians behaved. It sounds as if they were pressing them pretty hard. If you do end up in contact with the civilians, remind them of your similar situation. You may find that goes a long way to earning their trust.”

  “Okay,” Naomi said. “Alphea? How’s Jeremy?”

  “He’s been kept busy. I’ve been discreetly monitoring his vitals. He’s more agitated than normal, but nothing anyone will notice. Most of the pilots are more agitated, as they’re aware of the mission. It’ll be seen as background noise for the time being. Right now, I’m trying to think of an innocuous excuse to request his presence. I don’t want anyone to think he might be important to you. I’ve been removing all indications the two of you are close all morning. Hopefully the people I’m worried about are not as studious as I and didn’t think to research you thoroughly, imagining you’d be easy to deal with. I’m beginning to feel that you truly might not be safe there, and not because of the people of the Tereshkova. I’m sorry if I’ve led you into trouble. I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you get back here safely. Do not leave Mike’s side.”

  Naomi took a shuddering breath.

  “Okay.”

  She listened to the silence for a few minutes before she spoke again.

  “Alphea, I’ll be fine. Just don’t let them hurt Jeremy. If you can do that, I’ll make sure I get back okay.”

  “As of now, that’s my number one priority.”

  Nine

  Naomi woke to soft rapping on her sleeping pod. For a second, she thought she was back in her unit and it was Jeremy coming to join her for the night. She eagerly turned over and opened the pod. Her face fell when she saw Mike there.

  Mike noticed Naomi’s disappointment. He wished there was something he could do to alleviate it other than getting them safely through their mission. He was glad that he cared. He remembered too keenly the way the Tereshkovan soldier in the hallway had spoken of his civilian charges. There was, in the Magellan’s own barracks, a seed of something similar growing. Most of the men and women he worked with felt honored to protect and serve the people who lived above them on the ship. But there was a group, of which Mike had been disappointed to learn Casings was a part of, that felt the greater mission would be better served if the military was guiding it.

  “You should probably wake up. The rest of the squad is on their way here,” he told Naomi.

  She nodded and he helped her out of the pod.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” she said. “I’m fairly certain I couldn’t have come this far without knowing you were with me.”

  “You’re stronger than you think, but thank you. I’m glad I could help.”

  Chef scrutinized Mike as he approached with Naomi in tow. He looked at her questioningly when Naomi moved off to check the workstation again. Mike leaned in close to Chef.

  “What now?”

  “Nothing. I was worried at first that you were falling for her. A civilian, and one that had a fella all picked out and everything. It would have been a problem, is all. You’d be off your game, your judgement all clouded. But, I think it’s more complicated than that. Isn’t it?”

  Mike just stared at Chef.

  “I think I’ve let you get a little too chummy with me,” he finally replied.

  “Too late to take that back,” Chef said, grinning. “Anyway, I think it’s good, now I’ve thought on it. It’s empathy. Something I’ve been trying to find my way back to. So it’s good Patches makes you feel that way. We don’t want to lose that.”

  “I was just thinking the same…”

  Their conversation was cut short as the radio crackled in their ears.

  “Coming to you now, sir,” Trigger said.

  “Roger that.”

  Mike started to tell Naomi to open the door, but she was already punching the command into the workstation. As soon as the door was partway open, Trigger’s group rushed in. They looked like they’d had a much tougher time the last few hours.

  “As far as I could see,” Trigger said wearily, “there doesn’t seem to be any activity on this floor. We should be able to go all the way port, then up to Port E from there, providing the lift or stairs or whatever they’ve rigged there, is stable.”

  “No further trouble, other than being trapped?” Mike asked.

  “No. Henry thinks they were moving power units. We can’t be sure why. Just that they hauled off three of them. As far as Henry could tell, they’ve just ripped the things out, too. They aren’t taking care to make sure they aren’t damaging the receptacles they’re taking them from.”

  Mike turned to Naomi.

  “Any ideas?”

  Naomi shrugged.

  “I don’t know why they’d need more power units. Unless the ones they have up there have been fried somehow. I suppose it’s possible they’re trying to create a dead zone, an area of the ship around them that has no power. That would make it impossible for anyone to do what we just did, holing up in this room. Without power, you can’t lock the doors.”

  Henry spoke up, annoyed no one had asked his opinion.

  “It doesn’t matter what they’re doing. Like you said, we’re getting the regulator, then leaving.”

  “True enough,” Mike said begrudgingly. “Alright, let’s move out.”

  They spent the next few hours creeping through the darkened hallways. Crossing the width of the ship was slow going, since Chef wanted to scout for bombs. Casings complained bitterly about it being a waste of time.

  “The Terries taking the power units weren’t worried about it. They obviously cleared this area.”

  Chef ignored him, favoring caution over expediency. The group shadowed her silently until they reached an intersection to a long stretch of hallway.

  “This is the closest to Port side we should go without checking for breaches,” Naomi said.

  “This stretch of hallway runs the length of the deck. Then there are the units that hug the portside hull. I don’t know for sure how many of them were affected by the fire.”

  As the soldiers looked the map over, Naomi frowned. Something was nagging at her - something important she had forgotten in all the excitement.

  “Per your notes, the closest lift-turned-stairwell was destroyed in the fire. It’s still pressurized, but it’s just a shaft now. It was the only stairwell that went directly to Port E,” Mike said absently as he looked at the map.

  Naomi remembered Carrie complaining about that stairwell. She lived in General Leisure just two floors below. Naomi looked around at the blue hallways surrounding her. Carrie lived somewhere very near. Carrie complained about how far she’d had to go to get up to Engineering, at least until she’d met Daryl. Daryl worked in the fitness unit near a ladder she could climb to the next floor. Naomi smiled at the memory of Carrie giggling over her flirtatious encounters with the fitness instructor.

  “We’ll have to turn back, dammit. At least we won’t have to wait for…” Casings growled.

  Naomi interrupted him.

  “The turn!”

  Everyone stared at her. Casings’ eyes were stabbing into her, but Naomi was too excited to
think about it. She looked down at her wrist monitor. The little warning light that indicated a turn was coming soon was lit up.

  “The turn,” she said again.

  “She’s gone stupid,” Casings growled.

  Mike ignored him.

  “We’ll find somewhere to hold tight for the turn,” he said, misunderstanding.

  Naomi shook her head as she realized none of them were on her wavelength. She stabbed her finger at the stairwell on the map.

  “We should have enough time. It’s only forty feet up. With a good jump, we can make it. I can open the door from the panel at the bottom. We just have to jump up during the turn. It’ll save us time, and we won’t risk running into any more people. No one will be in the shaft. It’s useless normally.”

  Mike stared at the shaft on the map, thinking quickly.

  “It could be done,” he said to no one in particular.

  “Damn straight it could be done. I’ve beat the barracks record at least a dozen times during the turn. My name carved in the wall and everything,” Book said, grinning.

  “If someone doesn’t make it up there in time, forty feet is a long way to fall,” Mike said, looking back at Naomi.

  “We won’t all go. We shouldn’t anyway. Just a few of us to get the part, then we send it down. This deck seems safer for the return trip to the shuttle anyway, since the Terries are concentrated in the upper decks. It’ll work, I’m sure of it,” Naomi said.

  “Well,” Mike said, “let’s scout the shaft before we set anything in stone. It’s possible they sealed the door at the top and this is all moot.”

  They made their way around the corner and up the corridor to the bottom of what had once been a lift between three decks. Naomi took a power cell out of her pack and plugged it into the panel near the double-wide doors that sealed off the one-time lift. After a few seconds the doors opened. Cold air poured out into the hallway, raising goosebumps on Naomi’s arms.

  “Why’s it so cold,” Trigger asked.

  She put her head in the shaft and looked up.

  “The area on the other side of the lift is damaged. Open to space with minimal insulation. And the lifts. The air doesn’t circulate here with the rest of the ship. It just gradually gets cold,” Naomi said as she worked the panel. “These walls weren’t meant to insulate against space. I imagine they’ve only added insulation where people actually had to be. Since this stairwell isn’t used… there, did it open?”

  Mike poked his head into the frigid stairwell and looked up. A shaft of dim light illuminated the walls near the door at the top.

  “It looks like it’s open. We won’t freeze in this shaft, will we?”

  “No. It would be more of a problem if we weren’t in the shadow of Badb. The suns would heat this room up really fast,” Naomi said, entering the shaft.

  “Who’s going up?” she asked.

  “Your idea, you should go,” Casings said, crossing his arms.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Mike said, refusing to make eye contact with his old friend.

  “It might not be, but I’ll be the fastest at finding what we need, since I’m the most familiar with it. Or Henry could go.”

  “No way. This is your plan. You wanna break every bone in your body trying this ridiculous plan, you do it,” Henry said.

  “Maybe we ought to rethink this,” Mike said, staring up the shaft.

  “Better think fast, boss. Thirty seconds to turn,” Chef said.

  “Alright, I think we should all hold up here. I just don’t think two minutes is enough time to safely execute this kind of maneuver. Find a station and grab hold. After the turn we’ll look for another route.”

  Naomi sighed resignedly. She approached one of the discreet handholds on the wall when Book tapped her arm.

  “Here, share mine,” he said with a significant look.

  Naomi looked at him, puzzled, as she wrapped her hand around the hold he was using. He leaned in and whispered to her.

  “I know I could do it,” he said quietly.

  Naomi scanned the rest of the team.

  “Mike wouldn’t like it,” she whispered.

  “I think the boss likes you too much. I’ve seen him do things far more dangerous. He’ll be mad, but, it’ll be done. I won’t lie. We’ll have to listen to a lecture after. It’ll be ponderous. And you’ll hang your head in shame,” Book said, grinning.

  “Okay,” Naomi said, feeling bold. “I’m much more afraid of trying to go back through all those people than this jump. I think they’re the real danger.”

  “Agreed. When the turn starts, before zero g we need to move into the shaft. Notice my excellent choice of handholds.”

  Naomi grinned and nodded.

  “Then I’m going to hold you around your waist and jump. I’ve done this a lot of times. I know I’ll get us both up there. Are we clear on the plan?”

  Naomi nodded again. She looked at her wrist. Only a few seconds remained on the countdown next to the turn indicator. She watched them tick to zero.

  Colony ships made a sound that anyone on board would be able to hear. The sound was almost constant, and the people aboard could only describe it as a subtle white noise that you didn’t notice until it was gone, replaced by complete silence.

  Naomi moved into the shaft before the sound of the thrusters stopped. She vaguely heard Mike telling them to come back over her haze of concentration. Naomi felt the unmistakable floaty feeling of zero g as the main thrusters cut out while the ship turned. She mentally counted the seconds it took the ship to make it’s turn before the thrusters came back online and gravity resumed. Barely five seconds passed before Book’s strong hands were around her waist and she felt the rush of air as they flew upwards, powered by his jump. It seemed to take ages to reach the doorway. She reached out to grab it, but they overshot and bounced into the shaft’s ceiling, careening around. Naomi lost her sense of direction. But Book, who’d kept firm hold of her, still had the sense of which way was up. He kicked off the wall opposite the door and they flew through.

  They were a tangle of limbs as they glided through the engineering unit, ricocheting off consoles and walls. Book reached out and managed to arrest their movement by grabbing a light fixture. They crashed to the floor as the main thrusters came online. Book’s body smashed into Naomi. She grunted as the air was pressed from her.

  “Sorry about that,” he said, climbing off her.

  He held out his hand to help her up and she took it. She could dimly hear Mike’s shouts from below. She tapped her radio.

  “We’re fine, but you won’t be if you keep shouting,” she said quietly.

  “Book,” Mike’s terse voice came over the radio.

  “I know, boss. I’ll take my lashings and then some when we’re done. But right now, let’s find this thing and get out of here,” Book said in a hushed voice.

  Naomi went to a nearby console and powered it up with one of her power cells. She jammed the room’s only door to the hallway and scanned the perimeter before doing anything else. The hallways were packed with people. Names popped over each person on the screen. All were military. Book looked over her shoulder and swore under his breath.

  “They’re waiting for someone,” he said warily.

  “How can you tell?”

  “The formation. They’re leaving an open path, here, the closest stairwell. But once you get past them, they’ll have you trapped. Were they waiting for us or the civilian insurgence?”

  Naomi tapped a few more buttons on the screen. She couldn’t find out much without a higher security clearance.

  “What’re you looking for? The part?” Book asked, watching her search.

  “Not yet. I’m trying to see if any public messages were sent to their suits. It might indicate who they were looking for. There,” she said as she pulled up a message.

  She scanned it quickly.

  “They are waiting for us.”

  Book looked at the message.


  Shoot orange on sight.

  “Man, I thought I didn’t like the orange.”

  “Come on,” Naomi said. “The locked door won’t keep them guessing long. They’ll suspect something if they investigate at all. We need to get out of here fast.”

  Naomi quietly crept to the Port Engineering storage area, where she knew they were keeping the part. Book remained close to her.

  “Report,” Mike’s voice came over the radio abruptly.

  “It’s an ambush up here outside the door, boss. Stay put, we’ll be down as soon as we find the part.”

  “Roger that.”

  Naomi opened the door and gasped. Everything was smashed to pieces and torn apart.

  “Why would they do that? They might need some of these parts!”

  Her whispery voice was much shaken.

  “Maybe they didn’t know what part we needed. Wanted to make sure even if we got past them, we didn’t get it,” Book said, looking around. “Did a thorough job of it as well.”

  Naomi stepped over the synthetic carnage. She bent down and picked up a smashed crystal circuit board. Her fingers trailed over the embedded precious metals.

  “This is it. Well,” she waved her hand over a pile of pieces, “was it. It’s unusable like this. I could gather it all up, we could try to recycle it, but…”

  A sound came from the direction of the exit. They moved back into the main room to hear voices outside the door.

  “Was this locked before? Someone get me a power cell.”

  “No time,” Book said, grabbing Naomi’s hand.

  “Wait,” she hissed.

  She ran to the workstation and tapped a few things before pulling out her power cell.

  As she ran back to Book, she whispered, “it’s possible they’ll still think it’s a jam, but if they find evidence of us being here…”

  “Got it,” Book said. “We get to the bottom, you close this door first thing.”

  Naomi nodded. Book clipped himself to a piece of railing in the shaft.

  “Let’s hope this holds,” he said, putting one of his arms around Naomi. “You hold tight now.”

  Naomi looked down and saw Mike staring up at them. She gripped Book tightly as they fell over the edge, only to be halted a few feet down. Book hopped down the wall, letting rope out as he went. It was taking long enough that Naomi glanced upward, concerned.